Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/165

 wooden bench beside her, and came straight to the point.

"This country is dear and beautiful, and my cousin Norman Ricardo's wife is very kind to me," she said; "but I have gone through so much in the short time I've been here, that I want to change the current of my thoughts. I've made up my mind to go to France for a little while. Will you go with me?"

"To France!" exclaimed the girl, her face lighting up with a sudden glow of joy and surprise. "I? Do you mean it?"

"Yes," said Terry. "Would you care to?"

"Better than anything I thought could ever happen to me. Oh, it would be salvation!" replied Nora. "But why should you take me? You hardly know me at all, and"

"No, but I should like to." Terry smiled at her, a rather sad but very charming smile. "I'm not in a mood when travelling by myself has attractions. Maud couldn't go with me, even if I wanted her. And to tell the truth, I don't. I'm fond of her, but I want you. I don't quite know how long I shall stop; whether I shall return after coming back for the inquest, nor exactly where I shall go; but there is one place I want to visit—a tiny place. I was there when I was a little girl, and loved it. I've always wanted to see it again, ever since, just as when one is interrupted in the